Senate orders arrest of Junjun Binay, 5 others

(Updated 8:01 p.m.) After an hour-long passionate debate Wednesday, the Senate upheld the decision of the blue ribbon committee to order the arrest on Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay and five others for allegedly refusing to cooperate in an investigation on corruption allegations on the Binay family.

The arrest, however, will most likely to be enforced Thursday morning in time for the next hearing of the blue ribbon subcommittee, which is conducting the investigation.

“With the reservations of two gentlemen and without prejudice to submitting in writing such manifestation together with more extensive explanation, the report of the rules committee is hereby adopted,” Senate President Franklin Drilon said after Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano reported to the plenary the decision of the committee on rules.

Acting Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III disagreed with the decision of the committee on rules, saying the contempt order was issued with only three senators present. He said this does not constitute a quorum.

“Again let me be very clear, I have no issue on the issue of contempt, the order of arrest. That is not my issue. My issue is that the rules of the Senate should be followed,” he said.

Sotto told the plenary after the meeting of the committee on rules that he will be submitting an "exhaustive explanation" why he does not agree with the decision.

Aside from Cayetano and Sotto, among those present in the meeting were Senators Sergio Osmeña III, Antonio Trillanes IV, Bam Aquino, Teofisto Guingona III, and Gregorio Honasan II.

For his part, Guingona, who heads the blue ribbon committee, said he followed the all the  rules in conducting the meeting.

“It’s not a matter of interpretation, Mr. President. Two members of the committee shall constitute a quorum to do business. Kailangan pa ba i-interpret yan? Binasa ko yun and based on that, that is how we proceeded,” he said.

Binay and his father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, himself a former Makati mayor, are facing plunder charges in connection with the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building II project, which was the original topic of the blue ribbon subcommittee's investigation until it branched out to other supposed anomalies linked to the elder Binay.

Last Monday, the blue ribbon committee cited Binay, City Administrator Eleno Mendoza, Eduviges “Ebeng” Baloloy, former City Administrator Marjorie de Veyra, Engineer Line Dela Peña, and Bernadette Portallano in contempt for their repeated defiance of the subcommittee’s subpoenas and show cause orders.

Also recommended to be cited in contempt was University of Makati president Tomas Lopez, but he was excluded in the order after sending a letter to the committee expressing his willingness to attend the hearing scheduled on Thursday morning.

Guingona signed the arrest and detention order for the six, but the Senate deferred the service of the order after Sotto questioned the procedure.

Sotto asked if the committee can issue the order with only three of the 20 member-senators present. Aside from Guingona, present in the meeting were Senators Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the subcommittee, and Antonio Trillanes IV.

Senate President Franklin Drilon referred the matter to the committee on rules, headed by Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, which deliberated on the matter.

Binay only attended the first hearing of the subcommittee in August last year, but was absent in the succeeding proceedings. The other Makati officials, on the other hand, stopped attending the hearings when they decided to challenge the jurisdiction of the committee.

In their respective letters explaining their continued absence, Binay, Baloloy, Mendoza, Lopez, De Veyra, and Dela Peña said they were merely availing of remedies under the Senate Rules and were constrained to file a jurisdictional challenge because their right to due process, to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise, among others, were being violated.

In an interview after the session, Cayetano said it will be Drilon who will give the order to the Senate Sergeant At Arms.

“They can enforce it anytime pero ang guideline is that in time for the hearing. Basta’t walang danger na mag-abscond o mawala, hindi naman namin siya (Binay) pinaparusahan o hindi ito penalty kundi we are simply enforcing a Senate order,” he said.

He added Binay can immediately go home after the hearing if he will answer the questions of the senators.

“For as long as wala na syang ibang gawin that is contemptuous of the committee malamang makauwi na rin siya,” Cayetano said.

Binay, who was Makati councilor when the Makati City Hall Building II was approved in 2007, earlier said that he is ready to be arrested.—KBK, GMA News